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Quotable Women, like BeMoreCreative.com, encourages thinking, working, and living more creatively. Creativity is "the power to connect the seemingly unconnected" (W. Plommer). To support this work, we earn a small affiliate commission. Please browse creatively!


Olive Schreiner: [Finishing schools] are...

Olive Schreiner: [Finishing schools] are...

[Finishing schools] are nicely adapted machines for experimenting on the question, Into how little space a human...

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M F K Fisher: Dictionaries are always...

M F K Fisher: Dictionaries are always...

Dictionaries are always fun, but not always reassuring.

Source: Dubious Honors,...

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Mary Steichen Calderone: I don't want...

Mary Steichen Calderone: I don't want...

I don't want to control anybody's mind or anybody's heart -- I just want to help free people from the concert of sex...

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Mary Renault: Go with your...

Mary Renault: Go with your...

Go with your fate, but not beyond. Beyond leads to dark places.

Source: The Bull...

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Jessamyn West: A rattlesnake that...

Jessamyn West: A rattlesnake that...

A rattlesnake that doesn't bite teaches you nothing.

Source: The Life I Really...

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Maxine Hong Kingston: I learned to...

Maxine Hong Kingston: I learned to...

I learned to make my mind large, as the universe is large, so that there is room for...

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Lydia M Child: Every human being...

Lydia M Child: Every human being...

Every human being has, like Socrates, an attendant spirit; and wise are they who obey its signals. If it does not...

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Francoise Sagan: Life has confirmed...

Francoise Sagan: Life has confirmed...

Life has confirmed for me the thoughts and impressions I had when I was 18, as if it was all...

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Agatha Christie: It is ridiculous...

Agatha Christie: It is ridiculous...

It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City -- New York City is itself a detective...

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Anita Loos: Show business is...

Anita Loos: Show business is...

Show business is the best possible therapy for remorse.

Source: Kiss Hollywood...

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Cynthia Ozick: In saying what...

Cynthia Ozick: In saying what...

In saying what is obvious, never choose cunning. Yelling works better.

Source: We...

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Anne Sophie Swetchine: There are words...

Anne Sophie Swetchine: There are words...

There are words which are worth as much as the best actions, for they contain the germ of them...

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Elizabeth Blackwell: It is not...

Elizabeth Blackwell: It is not...

It is not easy to be a pioneer -- but oh, it is fascinating! I would not trade one moment, even the worst moment, for...

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Helene Deutsch: Their capacity for...

Helene Deutsch: Their capacity for...

Their capacity for identification is not an expression of inner poverty but of inner...

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Mary McCarthy: The suspense of...

Mary McCarthy: The suspense of...

The suspense of a novel is not only in the reader, but in the novelist, who is intensely curious about what will...

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Margaret Drabble: Perhaps the rare...

Margaret Drabble: Perhaps the rare...

Perhaps the rare and simple pleasure of being seen for what one is compensates for the misery of being...

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Mary McCarthy: I suppose everyone...

Mary McCarthy: I suppose everyone...

I suppose everyone continues to be interested in the quest for the self, but what you feel when you're older, I think,...

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Lillian Smith: Education is a...

Lillian Smith: Education is a...

Education is a private matter between the person and the world of knowledge and experience, and has little to do with...

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Enid Bagnold: Judges don't age....

Enid Bagnold: Judges don't age....

Judges don't age. Time decorates them.

Source: Judge, in The Chalk Garden, act...

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Renata Adler: Nothing defines the...

Renata Adler: Nothing defines the...

Nothing defines the quality of life in a community more clearly than people who regard themselves, or whom the...

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